deep

If the rod loads up with the bait, then the reel will probably cast it.. That said, there are some special so-called finesse reels that do well with light baits.

If a spinnerbait is all I ever throw, then that's all I'm going to catch my fish on; and of course, one of the bass will be bigger than all others. Keep an open mind. Read some books, articles, whatever on what really big bass/ trophy fish are caught on. Definition of a trophy varies from region to region, and from reservoir to reservoir. The right location is THE most important thing, but lure selection and presentation is something to think about too. EDIT: There are big bass, then there are really big ones, and then there are the trophy bass. Which of these do you want to catch?

I used to catch a bunch of bluegills on floating rapalas (F-5 and F-7s) when fishing for bass... I moved onto other baits and don't catch too many sunfish any more. I once caught a huge (like 1.5 pounds) 'gill on a 5" senko once that gave me a memorable fight. Sorry, my reply probably isn't very helpful.

You might wanna try a paddletail as a trailer. I love it!

Love me some senkos! Especially when wacky rigged. Congrats. I fished with a friend today, we got some average ones- all on senkos.

Good deal! What did you guys catch them on?

Thanks for the review. I love Sufix Siege too. It's my favorite mono for fishing conventional baits.

I love to fish in the early morning. Get up when it's still dark, drive a couple of hours, and start fishing right before sunrise. The best part is you can have the lake to yourself; most of the time anyway. I will often stay after dark if I'm on a good bite, but I don't enjoy fishing in the night.

Thanks.

If you don't mind me asking, how deep were the deep beds, and how clear is the water (near where those deep beds were)? Thanks.

Right here.. http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/98443-state-vs-state-episode-4/page__st__60

I love the one-knocker xcaliburs. Not so fond on rapala liplesses.

I love the last pic! And it's so good to see "young" big fish. Congratulations!!!

WTG NGAHB!!! Have you signed up for the state vs state?

@endless: No idea. The fish was sort of deep-hooked. I got the hook out through the gills, and held her in the water prior to weighing, so that she could breathe for a while. And she struggled free. As I told a friend over the phone, "certainly a 6#, probably a 7#, maaaaybe an 8#".

Only bite in seven hours from a 100 acre public lake yesterday. Bait is the 8" huddleston deluxe.

I had one of their spinning models (the 7'4" MH/XF IIRC) before I lost it overboard. I got it for $80 odd when Cabela's clearanced them off in 2010. The quantum was okay; reasonably sensitive, powerful, but sort of unbalanced. The Powell Max I bought to replace it blew it out of the water. JM $0.02.

I'm not disagreeing with you J. When I used to run fluoro on my plastics spinning rod, it served me well, and lasted a season before I got tired of it. With baitcasters though, I'm not going to take the risk of fishing with a kinked up line, and I do backlash once every two trips or so. Anyway, I fish both floating and sinking baits on my rods.

Too expensive, if I factor in the changing out of line every few trips. Plus, the three setups I have mono/ copoly on are all mutipurpose, meaning I fish both sinking and floating baits on them.

Gently used Cardiff 300/400s can be found for $75.. and an used Okuma big bait rod runs about the same. You can have a darn good combo for $150 that will last a long time...

I must be old fashioned. I still use clinch and sometimes (rarely) double clinch for mono and copoly.

Braid: At the end of each season, I "turn it over". At the end of the second season, I trash it, and respool. Mono/ copoly: After every three trips or so, earlier if I get a backlash and the line gets kinked up. I do throw some expensive (and heavy) baits, so breaking off on a fish, or casting a bait off is something I want to avoid. Fluoro: Don't use it.

6" baits to light 8" baits: 15 lb yo-zuri hybrid (MH setup) 8" baits: 25 lb big game (H setup) 10" baits: 25 lb big game (XH setup)

I suggest you get a copy of Bill Murphy's book (In Pursuit of Giant Bass), and one of Bill Siemantel's too (The Big Bass Zone); and start from there. Are there any lakes in your region that stock trout over the colder months? I don't share too much region specific knowledge about big baits anymore on this or the swimbait forums, but PM me if you'd like to learn a little from another noob. I'm in central Virginia btw.

For most of the little lakes I fish from shore, my first step is google maps -to check out the big picture for points, coves, channels, etc. If you have google earth installed (it's free), you can hopefully find a few older maps too. Next, I go to angling technologies, and overlay the topo map over the actual map. And that gives me an idea about the drop offs. After that, it's mostly trial and error.